Thank you.

So this is the recording.

That's one thing, sir.

Yeah, I got one, I think.

And Angels making us all copies right now.

One more complete set.

Yes.

So good morning.

Thank you for joining us today.

We will start going through all that.

Um we'll give you a chance to present what you want to present today.

I don't think there's anything new in there.

It's just kind of recapping where we've left off.

And we can look at scheduling the next meeting.

Very good.

Who starts this presentation off?

Where's the clicker?

No, the clicker.

IT, can you go to the next slide, please?

Sasha Andonoski Office of Management and Budget.

Next slide please.

So this is just a recap from your proposal from 4.7 2026.

So main items are compensation increases and a half percent for all years and then uh increases to most of the incentives.

Next slide.

Okay.

So this next slide uh shows the request from 417 2026.

Most of the request is uh language uh language changes and then we have uh and we are requesting uh change from uh the three to four assistant chiefs on this one and next slide so this is the estimation that uh and we calculated of the of the total uh uh total variance from the current contract to the to the next contract we calculated sixty six sixty five point uh eight million dollars of variance uh this includes uh uh step increases of five percent plus seven and a half percent uh call increases uh total of twelve point five percent increases uh on an annual basis uh next slide uh so the city proposal is uh so we are proposing call adjustment of three percent uh from from current percent uh from current three percent to two percent for each of the next four years uh and then we are increasing we are proposing uh uh increase of the entry salary for firefighters uh which include uh removing step two and start at step three uh which is five percent increase fire suppression technician technician combining those two FS2 and FS3 but I'm chief deputy chief and assistant chief uh and removing step six and seven and start at step eight and we are proposing to add uh new steps for uh firefighters fire suppression technicians battalion chief uh deputy chief and assistant chief and also uh fight medical paramedics assignment pay at uh uh five percent while working as a paramedic on an aircraft transport unit next slide so this is the estimation for the city proposal uh we are looking at 37.7 million dollars for total impact for total variance from the current contract and uh the next slide shows uh comparison between both proposals uh the the variance between both proposals is 28 million dollars this includes uh steps cola incentives and benefits uh with regards to the attrition we were like we would like to point out that uh total attrition for the uh current uh contract uh we uh there was a 201 uh firefighters but then uh we added 236 firefighters so so the attrition is positive for you guys so we we were able to increase the the staffing by 35 firefighters uh which is 17 percent from the from the beginning of the of the contract uh when we are looking at okay so now I think it's thank you.

Hi, good morning.

So just to recap, I think I mentioned this in our previous uh meeting um we use our economic research institute data, which is basically trying to compare his apples to apples.

We use the data because it normalizes the cost of labor and the cost of uh goods um to the city of El Paso.

It's important to highlight that the police collective bargaining process has used it in the past contracts.

This slide highlights our current standing in fiscal year 2026.

It highlights where we stand in comparison to our market cities.

And for fiscal year 2026, our ranking for firefighter at the minimum or the base entry rate was six.

And keep in mind, like I mentioned previously, the middle of the road is ranking of five because we had a total of 10 cities.

So five is the middle ground.

And so firefighter, we were ranking at the minimum at six, and the maximum at four.

Fire suppression technician, we were ranking at nine for the minimum, and for the maximum at four.

Lieutenant, we were ranking at a minimum of five, and our maximum was at four.

Our minimum rate was a ranking of five, and our maximum rate was a ranking of seven.

And lastly, our assistant chief rank.

And the maximum of our rate was a ranking of six.

If they had the information, and I'll go into who had the most current 2027 data and who didn't, so that you can see that.

But you can see the rankings there for each of our fire ranks.

Those that are highlighted in green actually show an increase in our rankings for the better.

And I want to highlight those.

It is the firefighter rank, the maximum uh rate goes from a ranking of four to a ranking of three.

For the fire suppression technician, both our minimum and our maximum rates show an increase to a ranking of seven and three, respectively.

Seven for the minimum rate and three for the maximum.

Lieutenant and captain, no change.

Battalion chief, we do increase with a minimum rate of four, with a minimum base rate of a ranking of four and the maximum a ranking of two.

And then deputy chief, our minimum base rate remains the same at a ranking of five, but then we do increase our maximum to a ranking of five.

And then lastly, our assistant chief, we do show a positive change at the base minimum rate of a ranking of seven, some going from eight to seven, and then we do show at the maximum though, we do uh show a uh ranking change at the base maximum from six to seven.

So I just want to move forward and kind of highlight what you've already seen in the previous meeting that we had.

This is um, yes.

Yes, and and I would yeah, so the the rankings for 2027, it's a mixture of data that is uh based on fiscal year 2027 as well as fiscal year 2026, it also does exclude the city of Tucson, and that was based on what we heard in our previous meeting with regards to the city of Tucson, um and so we just went ahead for 2027, we just remove it, remove that city altogether, and so we'll get into it further down the presentation to show show that and highlight that.

So this is the information that we presented in our previous meeting.

So these are the rankings currently in 2026, and this is what I've highlighted just recently.

You can see uh the rank firefighter, you see the adjusted minimum and the adjusted maximums, and then you see uh the rankings that I reported in the previous slide.

So we have for fiscal year 2026.

We presented not a total of nine cities with El Paso and uh making it the tenth city, but we looked at nine other cities, six in Texas, two in Arizona, and one in New Mexico.

So uh just real just to go through here because you've already seen this, but uh firefighter.

Here are ranks.

Um the adjusted minimum were at six, and our adjusted maximum were at four, with a ranking of five five being the middle ground.

So five is the middle, four cities earning more, four cities earning less.

That's eight, nine, yes.

Making sure my math is right.

So if we move forward to the fire suppression technician um ranking of nine for our adjusted minimum, and our adjusted maximum a ranking of four lieutenant.

Um we had the adjusted minimum of five.

Thank you, Lieutenant.

Oh, you read that's the fire suppression though.

No, that's the other way.

So I did warn you I can't multitask, so thank you for keeping me straight.

So um the lieutenant rank, adjusted minimum for fiscal year 2026.

We come in at a rank of five, so right in the middle, and then our adjust a maximum a ranking of four, so above the average there, captain.

We have the same ranks as our lieutenant, five and four, five being the base minimum, and four the base maximum, battalion chief.

We have uh for our adjusted minimum, we have a rank of six, and um the adjusted maximum a rank of five deputy chief.

We have at the base minimum, we have a ranking of five, and then the adjusted maximum, we do have a ranking of seven last is our assistant fire chief for fiscal year 2026.

Our ranking for the adjusted minimum is number eight, and our adjusted maximum, we come in at a rank of six.

So now we're gonna move forward to what our rankings are based on information that we have from cities that already have their fiscal year 2027 uh pay scales out and published.

I also do want to highlight again that the rankings for 2027 does exclude the city of Tucson.

So going into it, we uh look at our firefighter rank.

Well, let me clarify: we have a total of um eight cities, um the data that we have 2027 uh information on are from the following cities.

We have Austin, we have uh obviously we plugged in El Paso based on um OMB's projections.

We had the City of San Antonio, and we have Corpus Christi.

So that's a total of four cities that we have 2027 data on.

So that leaves Albuquerque, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, and Phoenix with 2026 data, and then lastly, Tucson has been removed.

So the firefighter rank, our rankings for fiscal year 2027, the adjusted minimum is six, and our adjusted maximum is three.

Keep in mind because we remove Tucson, the middle ground would be a ranking of four, so um so slightly below on the adjusted men, but higher are in the upper part for the adjusted maximums for the fire suppression technician.

Our ranking um improves, uh the adjusted minimum goes to seven, and our adjusted maximum is a three, and it's also uh above average on the maximum there.

We are the adjusted minimum rank is five, and the adjusted maximum ranking is four, so right at the middle ground, the the good spot.

Uh the captain, same thing, five and four.

Thank you.

So the adjusted minimum five, adjusted maximum four, the battalion chief.

Um we have an adjusted minimum rank of four, and then the adjusted maximum rank of two, and then our last two ranks, deputy chief.

We have an adjusted minimum rank of five, and adjusted maximum rank of five, an assistant chief adjusted min of seven, and adjusted maximum of seven as well.

So I'll just go back to the little overview.

I think it kind of captures everything that I just went over, is the brief summary where you can see the rankings for fiscal year 26 and the rankings for fiscal year 27, and where it uh the changes highlighted in green are positive or in the right direction.

There is one, the assistant chief, which we slip uh one level to seven, but otherwise an overall positive movement, and with that uh that's that's all I have.

So with that, if you'd like to go through your presentation for the day.

Good morning, everybody.

Captain Jay Nicholson for the record, uh Captain J.

Nicholson, President El Paso Association of Firefighters.

Uh, in front of you, you have wages and incentives on the wages and incentives.

This was just additional information that you requested, so I'm not gonna go through it.

I'll give you an opportunity to look over it if you have questions.

We can go through them now or we can address them later.

No, we'll review them.

Okay, in that case, let's move on.

Uh, in front of me, I'm looking at extra board and overtime.

Uh proposal is for a new section comp time, uh, which will create a new section establishing set criteria for the use of comp time to compensate employees for work performed beyond their normal schedule.

Standardize the accrual rate of comp time at 1.5 hours for every hour worked, adding language to include the addition of one hour of travel when employee is compensated with comp time.

This change mirrors the current one and a half, 1.5 hour rate and one hour of travel time paid for overtime.

Any questions there?

No, sir.

And then next for extra board and overtime.

Item number two, overtime pay.

Simply seeking to increase a maximum comp time accrual and payout limits upon separation.

Further explanation of that one.

Current maximum accumulation for comp time is not in line with current FLSA requirements.

Allows for a maximum accumulation of 480 comp 480 hours of comp time, increasing the maximum accrual to 480 hours of comp time, maximum of 240 hours of payout upon separation.

This would bring current comp time policy in line with FLSA non-exempt employees to include payout upon separation.

Good there.

For item number one, section two A number of vacation slots per shift.

For many years we saw no movement on this, and with the last contract, we actually figured out the percentages, got this up to where it should be.

All we did was carry that percentage forward, and with staffing that allotted for three new vacation slots.

So, excuse me, just looking to add those new slots.

Proposed vacation sellback.

This would provide uniform employees with the option to sell back recruited vacation holiday time.

There would be a minimum bank threshold that would have to be established as would mirror the sick leave sell back.

Uniform employees who have excess vacation holiday leave and choose to choose to use that excess leave rather than forfeit it, create vacancies and frontline units.

Again, the proposal is to create a vacation holiday leave sellback.

And the bottom line on this one is when employees use large blocks of vacation to avoid forfeiting their holiday vacation hours.

The city pays the employee using their leave and a replacement employee often at one and a half times their normal hourly rate.

Local 51 believes this program will reduce absences and eliminate the use it or lose a concern.

So potentially, it's a benefit twofold in that it helps the city, the department with staffing, but it also helps the members with the payout and not losing their time.

Item number three: the vacation accrual rates.

Looking to update the current vacation rate of accrual by.25 days per month for each tier.

This would also create a tiered system, which would add a section for employees with five to ten years, and then an additional rate for those over 20 years.

Question?

No.

Cool.

And then finally, for leave, we are proposing increasing the maximum number of vacation holiday time that a uniform employee can accrue from the current 75 days vacation holiday to 90 days.

Again, this is one of those things that's been in a contract for a very long time and seen no movement, no changes, so looking to increase that as we move forward.

Finally, insurance and health and safety.

We are looking to delete the word initial, change that to annual, and delete the words work jacket and tie from annual allotment.

What we see in these uniforms is that especially as we move to the new uniforms, they look fantastic, right?

But there is no backstock, I guess is the best way I can think to say it.

So with the previous uniforms, you've been on a job for years and years and years, you might have this or that item that you can continue to carry that forward.

Not frequently, but occasionally.

With these new uniforms, we're establishing baselines, and so the uniforms get worn more quickly.

Um that's what we're looking at there, is to um have that annual allotment set so that those you're receiving more uniforms that cover your wear over that year.

Item number two, this would be a new section upon promotion, all necessary badges, appropriate metal bugle insignia, and appropriate name tapes will be provided at no cost to the member.

There shouldn't be a punishment for being promoted.

For clarity, that's not being done now.

As it stands, your all of those things come out of your allotment.

So your allotment that's to cover uniforms, does not cover everything.

Gotcha.

Item number three, each member will receive their new uniform allotment every October 1st.

Item number four looking to amend the structure and function of the health and safety committee to meet current employee health needs and NFPA 1581 guide guidance on related programs, as well as the implementation implementation of new legislation related to firefighter health and safety to include but not limited to Texas House Bill 4144 and Texas House Bill 198, known as the Wade Canon Act, and both of those are uh in reference to firefighter cancer issues and legislations passed last year.

Item number five, add section 6A, which would formalize the peer support team program and place under revised health and safety committee.

Number six, creation of a labor management committee tasked with earnestly researching the feasibility and structure of a health care trust for uniform fire department employees.

Item seven, in line with the intent of House Bill 4144, discuss the changing of the current uh insurance structure to include premium rates and inclusion of recently retired firefighters.

Finally, here in line with item number six of this document.

Discuss the proposed plan to move all uniform fire department employees to a health care trust to manage health insurance for active and recently retired firefighters.

This format currently exists in multiple fire departments across across the country, including Fort Worth and Houston partially.

Um is to streamline health care for firefighters and substantially reduce health insurance costs for the city and the firefighters.

The healthcare stuff, particularly with the health care trust, is massive.

I mean, just looking at the information that we requested, we know that that's a big lift, but we got to get started somewhere.

So this gets us the information that we need, allows us to start those processes.

Very good.

We have any questions.

Does this wrap up your your requests?

Any is there any more language you would like to do?

I do have one more section to present on administrative, but again, that's language cleanup stuff that we've been talking about.

That's just language cleanup.

Okay, very good.

And I know that the RHR and our fire department's been working, they have some language cleanup too, so we'll bring that back as a packet too, and we can handle all those as we go through.

Very good.

So how much time do you need to get us that last packet?

Okay.

Yeah, next week will be good.

Okay.

Let me check the availability on the rooms and of the team.

I know next week's uh council week, so we're kind of tight, but we'll see what we have towards the later part of the week if that's all right.

I'll send you some proposed dates here by the end of the day.

Okay, sounds good.

Any questions for us?

No, sir.

You have any questions you want to?

I just have one question on the presentation.

There's some terminology in there that I just wanted some some uh a better understanding of if you can pull up the presentation.

There you go.

Uh one slide forward, I believe, or the one that has a chart where it has a different rankings.

Well, the terminology is adjusted minimum adjusted um maximum.

What do those two things mean again?

So it goes back to we use ERI data, and so when you look at, for example, the firefighter rank, you see where it says base minimum.

If you pull the city of Albuquerque, for example, and you pull their current firefighter step plan or wage plan, you will see that the entry for a firefighter is a thousand seven hundred and forty-six dollars.

We then use ERI data to calculate our geographic factor.

So each city has a factor associated with it that calculates their cost of labor and the cost of goods.

Okay.

So for example, the city of Albuquerque is one point, and I can't, I'm sorry, my eyesight's really bad, but uh you can see it there, right?

And so we use that geographic factor to come up with the adjusted minimum, which means that we take into account the cost of labor and the cost of goods and translated to what that dollar would mean here at the city of El Paso.

So the adjusted minimum, taking into account the geographic factor, gets translated from 1746 to help me out here.

Can you see the adjustment minimum?

1943.

So the adjusted minimum is taking into is allowing us to compare apples to apples.

What the dollar counts for here at the city of El Paso.

Is that clear enough?

Okay.

Thank you.

And further question is that ERI report or information available to us.

Go ahead.

It's it's a database it's a software platform and they only the agreement states that I one person we we only have one license and that's under me.

And the agreement does state that that license be limited to the one the that is accessing their data.

It is copyrighted data so okay.

Okay.

I think we're good.

Again any any questions on our side?

Very good we'll look at meeting next week.

All right thank you thank you.